NW Iowa 12-26-20

[Kevin W]

This morning it was up at 5 am and out the door by 6 so we could make the drive up north to the lakes area and the large public expanses that are present there. Of course I had Kepa along and my oldest son Kenny joined me as well. Right at the 8 am start time we were almost to the first public cattail infested spot I had in mind. Just before we got there we were driving past a small corner with 3 or 4 clumps of brush and cattails. I mentioned to Kenny to keep his eyes on it as we had taken a rooster out of it early on in the season. As we drove by the snow had certainly done a number on it and the spot didn't look nearly as good so we just kept driving.
8:05 am and I was relieved to see the parking spot at the public piece I had in mind was empty and the snow all around it undisturbed except for a few deer tracks. Kenny and I geared up released Kepa and headed to the cattails. The snow drifts were tough along the field edge, that kind of crusted snow that will hold a 40 lb lab but no way near that of a hunter guy. So I busted the drift and once in the cattails walking got much easier and we immediately got into pheasants. Hens flushed one at a time and a rooster took off just out of range. Kepa, Kenny and I worked the cover around the slough and field sides flushing pheasants but all hens. On the walk back we had one more short section of cattails to hit and once there Kepa got birdy right away. Up came a hen then a rooster, well within range of both Kenny and I. We proceeded to miss the rooster 2 times each!!! Dang, all that work and no bird for Kepa to retrieve!!! So we finished out the walk with no more flushes and it was close to 9am. Oh remember that "small corner with 3 or 4 clumps of brush and cattails" I talked about. We drove back by it and watched 30 or so pheasants fly out of it into the neighboring corn field. Note to self, check that spot at 8 am next time!!!

For the rest of the morning we got to meet and hunt with forum member Mr. McFarmer. Mr. McFarmer was kind enough to reach out and suggest we hunt his place and this morning that is just what we did. Beauty of a place Mr. McFarmer has, the set a side is nicely laid out and the cover is tremendous. After introductions the three of us geared up and got Kepa out for a hunt. We started in a really nice and thick set aside field and Kepa was into bird scent pretty much right away. It took us a bit to catch up with them but after a couple of hen flushes a nice rooster flushed well with in range and I proceeded to miss him twice!!! Redemption didn't take long though as just a few steps later another rooster flushed and my son Kenny and I appeared to double up on him (my story and I'm sticking to it) a few minutes later Kepa was able to find the rooster in the thick cover.
The cover widened out quite a bit so we spread out and hunted along, Mr McFarmer made a nice shot on a rooster that got up for him and the bird sailed a bit but we were able to mark him well. I got Kepa and went over there to see if we could recover the rooster. Tracks in the snow showed he was a runner, Kepa got a nose full of scent and was off. She's a young lab and a bit energetic, I was following along watching his tracks as best I could and Kepa did great for the first 50 yards or so then I couldn't see tracks anymore. I called Kepa back for another look in the area and she turned up the rooster almost immediately!!! Proud dad dog moment for sure.
We continued the hunt through some great cover, tracks galore but no roosters flushed up with in range for a bit, hens yes but no roosters. Until the last field, Mr McFarmer suggested that my son take a certain starting spot and about 50 yards later my son Kenny was in the middle of a pheasant flush that reminded me of quail. 3 or 4 rooster were in the mix of 10 of so hens and Kenny sent one of the roosters tumbling. I was on the edge and swung on a big rooster crossing right to left, and................................ missed, twice. Kepa made a nice retrieve on Kennys rooster though and on the walk back to the house Mr McFarmer got on a fresh pheasant track that led to a rooster that flushed and flew straight at Kenny. Kenny waited for the rooster to pass then sent 3 shots at the bird. Kenny told us after each shot he could see by the shotgun wads he was well behind the bird but he just couldn't catch up!!!
Kenny and I thanked Mr. McFarmer for the invite and the hunt then headed home.
So in summary Kenny and I made a new friend today. Mr. McFarmer, Kenny and I each got a rooster today and Kepa found all three!!! Win, win, and win!!!

 

[McFarmer]

Glad you had a good time. Kevin, Kenny and Kepa are welcome to come back when ever they want.

I’ve got to say at 18 months Kepa has the energy of a young dog but has the discipline of an older dog in their prime. I don’t think Kevin ever had to holler or whistle once, just soft spoken commands and the dog did what she was supposed to do. She will be an excellent dog for a good long time. Seeing a good dog work is what I enjoy the most.

Kevin is being gracious when he says I made a good shot on that bird, it flew a good long time and hit the ground running. I told Kevin I would be impressed if she found that one but sure enough it didn’t take her long to root it out of the snow.

I‘m glad Kenny was able to get into the birds, not often in Iowa you get to stand in the middle of a flush like that. It takes a cool head to pick one bird out and not get rattled, he did well. I think he might remember that one for a while.

The ground we were on hadn’t been hunted since opening weekend and I was surprised the birds were so wild, many getting up 2-300 yards away. With a decent winter and spring next season looks to be a banner year.

 

[KSBrittman]

Thanks for the report and congratulations on the nice dog work , I enjoy that the most to .

 

[remy3424]

Well done fellas! It was a beautiful morning for sure. We hunted a field of CRP not far from Sioux City, we had 3 guys, 2 GSPs and our new guy had a similar aged lab to yours that was newly back from "training". I think it did fine, it hunted VERY close, not like the GSPs, everything went great, all the dogs did great and our shooting was good also, filled our limits before noon.

 

[2labs19]

Glad you had a great hunt! I've been switching it up the past 2 weekends and started hunting between 1:00 and 2:00 PM in the afternoon. This has worked out great lately. I always wondered how it would work switching to hunting them after they have gone out to feed in the morning. I've spent a lot of time out this fall, as I'm working with a new 10 month old pointing Yellow Lab. She has picked it up quickly this year, following behind and working with my 9 year old Black lab.

Last weekend I hunted some CRP in Eastern Plymouth county and had my limit both days in around an hour. This weekend I was able to hunt both afternoons again. It seems the snow caused some of the birds to bunch up. Sunday afternoon with the overcast and moisture in the air, it kept the birds sitting tight. I started hunting around 2:15 Sunday afternoon and 4 shots later I had my limit in about 50 minutes. I would guess the dogs worked up 50+ birds in a half mile of thick cover. Definitely good numbers of birds out there. I would guess 70% of what we worked up were hens.

My 10 month old started holding her points very well in the last month. So Sunday I let her hold on point to see how long she would last. She lasted about 2 minutes before the rooster decided to flush and one quick shot later our afternoon was over.

Hopefully this next round of snow isn't to hard on the birds and we can get a few more hunts in before the season ends. Then it's on to Nebraska for Sharpies and Prairie Chickens.